


tell me a story

by thimble



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 18:38:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12018681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thimble/pseuds/thimble
Summary: No prince is coming to your rescue, no wizard is concocting a potion that will make you less hungry. You’re a princess trapped in a tower with no way out, until one day—It appears to you, a Messiah, looking different from the likeness hanging on the cross but bearing the same message on its lips.Do you want to become a magical girl?You know exactly what to wish for.





	tell me a story

Every night, before you go to sleep, your mother pads quietly into the room you and your sister share to unfurl a book between her hands, a smile on her face as she reads to you of daydreaming princesses and dragon-slaying princes, of wizards with wisdom beyond compare and witches with evil schemes that never reach fruition. A day doesn’t feel complete without this ritual, your mother’s voice like a lullaby as you drift into dreaming, a knight on a stallion whisking you away from waking hours to this place where all the stories are real.

But this is before Sunday. Sunday is your favorite, because it’s when your father assumes his place on the altar and regales you with stories of his own.

They’re not necessarily in here, he tells you, pointing to the bible unfurled between his hands. But the messages are the same. He smiles kindly, filled with good intention, and you find it impossible not to smile back.

You find it impossible not to listen to him, which is why it puzzles you for the longest time when people suddenly stop. They stop listening, stop coming to sermons; some of them even stop looking at your father, as if he’ll curse them where they stand.

I don’t understand, you say. What you’re saying is true. Why can’t they see that?

Give them time, Kyoko. Just give them time.

But time only made it worse. Time strips you of your home, of your pride, of the contents of your stomach, asking you to be satisfied with apple cores for dinner. No prince is coming to your rescue, no wizard is concocting a potion that will make you less hungry. You’re a princess trapped in a tower with no way out, until one day—

It appears to you, a Messiah, looking different from the likeness hanging on the cross but bearing the same message on its lips.

Do you want to become a magical girl?

You know exactly what to wish for.

The following Sunday the church is packed again and all the people that left once have returned, bringing others with them, as if they had finally realized the truth. This is how your father sees it, and this is how you’ll prefer to remember it as you slip out quietly to fight the evil in the world, like a knight would, like a savior would. It’s exhausting, but it’s a small price to pay for that crowded cathedral, for that household full of food and laughter. Most days you make it back in time to hear your mother’s stories, you know, like the sort you’re currently living in.

The ones where love and courage always win.


End file.
